


Even the Stars Have Left

by Cinnamontaetae



Series: Even the Stars Have Left [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, It's pretty dark, M/M, Please Don't Hate Me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-16 13:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7269205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinnamontaetae/pseuds/Cinnamontaetae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baekhyun and Chanyeol are childhood friends living in a place that is not exactly open minded about certain things i.e. being homosexual. The two are in their sophomore year when they finally become more than friends but life takes a dark turn for the pair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fan fiction!  
> I want to warn you that the end is pretty sad  
> But I don't want to spoil it for you....  
> I'm so sorry...

As Baekhyun walks through the hallway, he can feel people look at him and hear them whisper behind his back. However, all of that fades away when his friend of who-know-how-many-years bounds up to him with a huge, toothy grin on his face. Baekhyun’s  heart skips a beat when his friend, Chanyeol, wraps an arm around his shoulders. Okay, best friend and secret crush. 

“Baekhyun! Are you free today? Can we hang out?” He says with that ridiculous grin still plastered to his face. 

“Yes, I’m free, I probably would have told you if I wasn’t.” 

“Awsome! Meet me outside in a couple minutes, okay? There is something I have to do real quick.” With that, Chanyeol sprints off. Baekhyun sighs and heads outside and wait for him. A while later, Chanyeol runs out the doors of the school and jogs over to him. Grabbing his arm, Chanyeol pulls the shorter with him. They walk next to each other until they reach a small café, which they enter and sit down in. Within a seemingly short amount of time, the two have bubble tea in front of them. Then Chanyeol says something that Baekhyun certainly never expected to hear. 

“So, at first I hadn’t wanted to ruin our friendship, but I decided I really should say this.” He takes a deep breath. “Will you be my boyfriend?” 

Baekhyun feels like time has stopped as he looks at his best friend, who has the sweetest, most adorable and hopeful look on his face. Before he registers what is even going through his mind, a yes spills from his mouth. It wasn’t thought out, but had he thought before speaking, his answer would have been no different. 

The two spend a lot of time together privately as a couple. They enjoy it and it isn’t much different from their friendship, just a little sweeter, a little more intimate (like hand holding or cuddling), and they spend time on cute dates. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. But they don’t show it off at school, they remain as friends at school. 

After a time of the two dating, the two run home from school together and get soaked to the skin by unexpected rain. When Baekhyun changes his shirt, something catches Chanyeol’s eyes

“What was that?” He asks, staring at Baekhyun. 

“What was what?” He replies, confused. 

“Your stomach, what was on it?” 

Baekhyun falls silent. He knows exactly what Chanyeol is talking about. He was planning on him never finding out. 

“What is it?” Chanyeol presses. 

“Scars, they’re scars.” He says with a sigh as he sits down on his bed. “From a long time ago, back when I was bullied a lot.” 

“What, but you never-” 

Baekhyun speaks over him, “yeah, I did. I kept it a secret this whole time.” Chanyeol looks worried and sad. “Don’t worry about it, as I said, it was a while ago.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped you more or something! I had no idea the bullying was that bad. Why would you not tell your best friend?” 

“Chanyeol, I didn’t want to tell anyone then, and I don’t want to talk about it now. I’m okay, really. I’m fine now.” Baekhyun sounds tired and although Chanyeol is skeptical, he decides to just drop it for now. 

Only a couple days after that conversation, they are again, both at Baekhyun’s house. Chanyeol begins to speak. 

“I want to be open about our relationship at school.” That catches Baekhyun by surprise and he tenses up. “I know you have been teased for ‘looking gay’ and whatnot but please, I don’t want this to be a secret anymore. I promise to protect you.” 

“I-I don’t know. I’m scared to.” 

“Please. It feels like I’m denying that I like you. I want to shout to the world that I like you.” 

Baekhyun hesitates. He doesn’t really want to but looking at Chanyeol’s puppy face, he finally gives in. It couldn’t get worse than a couple years ago, right?

“Okay, but please go light on the PDAs.” 

Chanyeol’s following smile could replace the sun and Baekhyun decides it was probably the right choice.

When they go to school the next day and walk with our hands intertwined, rumors spread immediately. Soon the whole school is talking about the “new gay couple”. The class clown and the kid everyone suspected was gay who wears too much eyeliner. 

At a rare moment when Chanyeol isn’t right by Baekhyun’s side, some of his old bullies corner him. 

“Ha, see! We knew all along!” 

“Yeah! You made it so obvious!” 

“I bet he is just messing with you” 

They laugh together after the third one speaks, almost like it was rehearsed. They continue on and on in a similar fashion until they realize that he is not reacting to their taunts. Needless to say, they want some reaction from him and if they can’t get it with words, then actions will do the trick. 

They push him to the ground kick him in places where others won’t see the bruises. Eventually they either get bored or run out of time, Baekhyun can’t tell, and leave him where he is. When those people are finally out of sight and earshot, he lets out a soft sob, but quickly collects himself and forces himself onto his feet. 

Soon after that incident, there are even more people who bother, tease, and taunt Baekhyun with the general consensus to make his life miserable. Chanyeol tells him that people keep bothering him about their relationship but, Baekhyun thinks that he himself is receiving the worst of it. If that keeps the bullies away from Chanyeol though, he doesn’t mind so much. 

One day, Baekhyun finds himself looking at all his old things he used in the past to hurt himself. 

“What are you looking at?” 

He jumps at Chanyeol’s voice and spins around to look at him standing in the doorway of his bedroom. 

“Nothing!” He exclaims as he hurriedly tries to hide the objects. Chanyeol crosses Baekhyun’s small room in a second and grabs his hands to stop him from moving. Then he spots what Baekhyun had been trying to hide and looks at him with wide eyes. 

“You lied! You said it was a long time ago that you did this!” He yells. 

Baekhyun flinches and stutters, “I-I didn’t lie. It really was a long time ago, I just never got rid of these.” 

Chanyeol looks at him like he doesn’t believe him. “Don’t lie to me, Baekhyun, please.” 

“I’m not. I’m really not.” 

“Fine.” He says and then looks back at the blades. He picks one up and looks at it closely. “Are these blood stains?” 

Baekhyun nods, recognizing the knife. It has a wooden handle which indeed has blood stains on it. Chanyeol quickly puts it down and wraps his arms around Baekhyun. “Please, don’t ever hurt yourself again. Promise me, please.” 

Baekhyun doesn’t need to think before replying with “I promise.” 

Chanyeol hugs him tighter and Baekhyun hopes he has put Chanyeol’s thoughts to rest.

Weeks continue like that, with people bothering the two of them. Eventually though, it seems to start dying down. Baekhyun thinks they have probably run out of things to say and do to the two of them and have gotten bored. Well, that’s what he thinks until one day an upperclassman drags him into an empty classroom and locks the door. He brings Baekhyun to a corner of the room you can’t see from the door. 

“W-what are you doing?” Baekhyun stammers as his heart thuds with fear. 

“I’m going to have some fun.” The sick jerk says as he sets up a video camera. Baekhyun barely has time to think before the other guy is done setting things up and turns to him. The guy’s sly smirk turns lustful. Baekhyun hates every second of the following minutes, which to him feels like an endless eternity. 

The guy stops the video camera and leaves when he is done. Baekhyun shakily rises to his feet, wincing as he pulls his clothes back on. He has just enough time to stagger to a trashcan before losing his breakfast. He feels disgusting and wants to go home and take a shower and cry but he forces himself to swallow his tears and go to class, too afraid to say anything to anyone. 

Later that day, the guy approaches Baekhyun and threatens him to not tell anyone about what had happened and then says something that nearly breaks him. 

“You have to break up with Chanyeol or else that video will be spread to the entire school. You have one week.” And with that, the guy turns and walks away, leaving Baekhyun stunned and scared. Chanyeol finds him crying on the floor in front of his locker. Baekhyun can’t say anything to him. 

As the week progresses, Baekhyun tries to spend as much time with Chanyeol as possible. It will all be over by the end of the week. He puts on a happy, cheerful mask to hide all the pain he feels, after all, that is what he seems to do best. He insists on going on cute dates everyday. On the weekend he even convinces Chanyeol to bring him to a small amusement park near their town. Even though they are both terrified of rollercoasters, the two have the most fun they have had in weeks. 

The threat hangs heavy over Baekhyun’s head and at the end of the week, he finally has to tell Chanyeol. It breaks his heart when he asks Chanyeol one last time to go to the small café as a couple. His heart shatters into a million pieces when they return to his house afterward and Baekhyun turns to Chanyeol and begins to cry before he even begins speaking. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Chanyeol asks as he gently reaches out to Baekhyun, Baekhyun shies away from him, not wanting it to be any harder than it already is. 

“Let's break up.” Baekhyun says through his tears. 

“What?” 

“Let’s break up.” Baekhyun repeats with a little more conviction, but it’s not very convincing since he is still sobbing. 

“Why?” He looks so lost and confused and that makes Baekhyun’s chest ache. 

“Because, we just have to, please, okay? Just let me break up with you.” That isn’t what he meant to say and he knows it doesn't sound convincing at all. Curse his mouth. 

“What is going on? Baekhyun tell me the truth. Please?” 

Baekhyun finally breaks. “I have to break up with you. This awful disgusting jerk freaking filmed himself w-with me and is threatening me with it and I have to break up with you or the whole school will see it and that scares me to death so please, please, let me break up with you.” 

Immediately he feels Chanyeol’s arms wrap around him. He hugs Baekhyun tightly and strokes his hair to comfort him. 

“It’s going to be okay, baby. Trust me. I said I would protect you, since I couldn’t then I should now. Don’t break up with me. If he does spread the video, I won’t let anyone lay a finger on you.” Chanyeol’s words cause Baekhyun’s tears to flow more than before and he is somewhat relieved that he doesn’t have to break up with his boyfriend. 

When they come into school the next day, they are still a couple, and by the end of the day people are getting messages on their phones that contain a link to a video. By the following day, everyone has seen the video. Just like the upperclassman expected, there is no sympathy toward Baekhyun, only jeers and taunts. Chanyeol sticks by his side as much as he can and tries his hardest to either make people shut up or to distract Baekhyun with silly jokes and anything else he can think of, sometimes simply saying “Baekhyun, look at me. Everything is going to be fine,” and hopes that Baekhyun will listen to him. 

People start making jokes about Baekhyun being a “slut” or “whore” and some go as far as to ask him to sleep with them. They only say these things when Chanyeol isn’t around to protect him, and Baekhyun doesn’t tell him. Instead he keeps everything bottled up and hides away how much everything is getting to him. He can feel himself slipping back into the depression he had only fully pulled himself out of a year ago. It gets to the point where he is terrified of being alone, afraid someone will say or do something to him that will hurt him much more than being called a slut, and afraid of himself, what his mind or hands will do to himself if he is left alone. 

One night when his parents are out, his mind drifts to the past weeks of hell and starts tricking himself into believing everyone. His hands itch to feel cool metal in his hands which he hasn’t felt in at least a year. As if in a trance, he gets up and walks toward his drawer. The one Chanyeol had found out about only about a month ago. Once he reaches it, he finally comes to his senses and it scares him so much. He hurriedly grabs his phone with shaking hands and calls his boyfriend. He pleads in his head for Chanyeol to pick up the phone and he does and that is when Baekhyun breaks. All his pent up emotion, all the tears he stopped and all the hurt and terror he felt come pouring out in the form of loud, uncontrollable sobs. Chanyeol is shocked and speechless for minute. 

“Baekhyun, talk to me.” He finally says, worried about the other. When Baekhyun doesn’t respond, Chanyeol starts talking. Talking about anything: about their childhood, their dates, how pretty he thinks Baekhyun is, and once he has run out of those sorts of things, he begins simply saying comforting words like “I’m here”, “It’s okay”, and “it will pass” which eventually just dissolves into I love you’s. They both stay on the phone until Baekhyun falls asleep. 

The next day is the same thing they have been experiencing as of late. Chanyeol takes extra care with Baekhyun and doesn’t leave his side unless absolutely necessary until late that night because he couldn’t convince his parents to let him stay over. For almost a week, Baekhyun falls asleep to the sound of Chanyeol’s voice over the phone. For a week more Baekhyun deals with the shame and humiliation his classmates, or rather, the whole school forces upon him. Even the faculty, the people in charge of helping kids, turned a blind eye.

And then one day, the Monday after Baekhyun had cried to Chanyeol over the phone, he doesn’t show up to school. Chanyeol is worried sick all day. His calls are forwarded directly to voicemail and he leaves countless messages begging Baekhyun to call him back. As the day progresses, his messages become more frantic. He calls Baekhyun’s parents asking if they know where he is. To their knowledge, he went to school. He tells them that he is coming over after school and hangs up, more worried than ever. 

After school, Chanyeol sprints to Baekhyun’s place, finds the spare key, and lets himself in. He runs up to Baekhyun’s room and when he can’t find him there, he searches the entire house. Having grown up together, he knows everywhere Baekhyun could possibly be hiding but he can’t find him in a single one of those places. He begins his second search of the house, double checking everywhere. When he reaches Baekhyun’s room again, he spots a piece of paper lying on his desk. A feeling of dread settles over him as he picks it up. From the first two words, he knows it’s not going to be good. It reads: 

_ I’m sorry.  _

_ To whom it may concern… hm that would be my parents and Chanyeol right? Well, this will definitely come as a huge shock to my parents and for that I’m sorry. Chanyeol, please don’t blame yourself, it really isn’t your fault. Actually I want to thank you for sticking by my side. Anyway, I’ll get to the point now, though I guess it might be kind of obvious. By the time you read this, I’ll be dead. Or really close to being dead. Lets just say I’m dead because if you ever find me, that’s how I’ll be. This must be really hard on you. I know that. Dear god I know that. I’m sorry but I just couldn’t deal with the pain anymore. The fitful sleep. The endless torments. I couldn’t keep my promise and I’m so so sorry. I hurt myself. Only one last time though. Up until this point I have kept my promise.  _

_ I will now explain exactly why my life has ended this way for you, my parents, who had no idea about anything I was going through. Don’t worry, you two are the best parents anyone could ask for, I just kept all my problems hidden away so you wouldn’t worry. About three months ago, Chanyeol and I started dating. You know that part. You don’t know what happened afterward. During the first month, we were subject to endless ridicule by our classmates. A month ago, an upperclassman decided to take it to the next level. I guess he didn’t want any gay couples at our school. He recorded on video himself um well, having his way with me. He told me to break up with Chanyeol. I didn’t and the result has been torture. The whole school has seen it and either turned a blind eye or made my life more miserable.  _

_ These events, this hell, has driven me to this. I’m sorry but I see no other way out. I love you. All three of you. You all mean the world to me and I’m so so sorry I am forcing you through this pain.  _

_ I’m not coming back, I can’t. I’m long gone by now, past the point of no return. All the proof you need, if you are in denial, is in the drawer of this desk.  _

_ I love you, I love you, I love you. _

_ I’m sorry.  _

By the end of the letter, Chanyeol can barely make out the words. He hesitantly opens the door, not wanting proof that his best friend and lover is gone. He stares at the contents. All the different blades which he had only seen once before are there. Chanyeol thinks,  _ how is that proof? _ But soon the answer dawns on him. The wooden one with a stain on it’s handle. It was nowhere to be seen. Chanyeol’s legs give out as he breaks into sobs that violently shake his whole body. He remains that way for a long time. 

When Baekhyun’s parents get home, Chanyeol greets them with bloodshot, puffy eyes and tears trailing down his cheeks. He wordlessly hands over the letter, which now has tears stains on it. The two adults soon looks devastated which morphs into uncontainable greif. They sink to the ground in each other’s arms and don’t get up. After an indistinguishable amount of time, Chanyeol helps them up and sits them in chairs. The three spend the rest of that evening and into the night mourning the death of their beloved son and friend. 

Two weeks later and the police still have not found his body. Baekhyun’s parents decide to go ahead with the funeral, not wanting to delay it any further. It is a somber experience. His parents and Chanyeol’s family stand together. Chanyeol stands apart from everyone with tears silently flowing down his cheeks. 

Unknown to the attendees, someone watchs the service from a distance. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY It's finally up!  
> I hope you enjoy this!

Chanyeol stands in front of a small gray gravestone. It has been a full year since the death of Baekhyun. He gently lays the flowers he was carrying at the base of the stone. Tears run down his face and fall from his chin. A full year without his best friend and lover. He can’t believe he survived without him. He is about to fall to the ground and breakdown when he feels a hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey Chanyeol, I figured you would be here.” A soft voice says. 

Chanyeol, recognizing the voice, merely leans against the person. The person turns Chanyeol around and wraps his arms around him. 

“Let it out, I know you miss him.” 

With that minor encouragement, Chanyeol sobs into the person’s shoulder, clutching his shirt tightly as his body shakes. 

The week before Baekhyun’s death, there had been a new sophomore at their school. Being busy with catching up with classes and getting used to a new town and a new school, he hadn’t really taken note of the couple that was struggling to just smile from day to day. He heard rumors and the nasty stuff that was said, but he didn’t think much of it, mostly because it seemed to go in one ear and out the other. 

His family was moving back to this town after two decades away from the place. It was the first time the boy had been in the place his grandfather had been buried. He decided he would go find the grave that weekend and pay his respects. Little did he know that he would witness his classmate’s funeral. 

He watched from a distance as the small assembly mourned an unknown person’s passing and watched as a tall, unnaturally red headed person stood apart from the rest, crying silently. He vaguely recognized this person as a classmate. 

The next Monday in school he was aware that two people in his class were missing. It was brought to his attention, as well as the rest of the class, that one of the two missing that day, Baekhyun, whom had been missing for two weeks, had just had his funeral. The other person’s name was Chanyeol, the dead guy’s friend. 

When Chanyeol came back to school, the now not so new kid took immediate notice of him. Although his hair was no longer cherry red, he recognized him as the guy he saw at the funeral. As soon as he could, he made his way over to him. 

“Hello. Um, my name is Jongdae, what’s yours?” 

Chanyeol looked up at him with dead looking eyes. In almost a whisper, he said “Chanyeol.” 

From that day forward, Jongdae tried his best to become Chanyeol’s friend. It was partially out of guilt. He realized if he had taken a moment when he first came to this school to listen to the rumors and reach out to the poor boys, he could have helped them. But it was mostly because he thought that Chanyeol could use a friend, and Jongdae himself, being the new kid, also wanted a friend. He would much rather be friends with a depressed outcast than one of the classmates that drove someone to get rid of himself. 

Chanyeol eventually opened up to him and over the past year, Jongdae became one of the only people he trusted. Chanyeol would tell Jongdae about Baekhyun. The first time he opened up about Baekhyun was about a month after Jongdae first started trying to be friends with Chanyeol. It seemed to be working okay seeing as Chanyeol would actually speak in full sentences to him. Jongdae was actually the one to bring it up. He found Chanyeol crying outside of their classroom one day when he was staying back for extra help. He asked if it was something to do with his late friend. At this Chanyeol nodded while breaking into a fresh wave of tears. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jongdae had asked. After he didn’t get a response from Chanyeol, he began leading Chanyeol to his house. Once they were there, Jongdae gave Chanyeol a large bowl of ice cream and waited until Chanyeol calmed down. Again he asked if Chanyeol wanted to talk. After taking a deep breath, Chanyeol began to tell Jongdae about how he and Baekhyun had been friends since childhood. He didn’t get much farther than that before getting more choked up. Jongdae decided that was fine for now and left it at that. 

After that, Chanyeol slowly told him more about their childhood, dates, and how much he loved Baekhyun, and worried about him, and missed him. Jongdae would be there as Chanyeol’s support, offering a shoulder to cry on when Chanyeol needed it or telling stupid jokes to take his mind off of anything that was weighing him down. 

One day Jongdae and Chanyeol were hanging out at a café. The two had ordered drinks for themselves. Jongdae a hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream, Chanyeol a large mango bubble tea. The two were quietly sipping their respective drinks when Jongdae decided to try telling some jokes because that day had been particularly bad for Chanyeol. 

“So, did you hear the joke about the giraffe?” 

Chanyeol stares at him blankly. 

“Nevermind, it would be way over your head.” 

Chanyeol, realizing that Jongdae was trying to tell jokes told him to tell more. 

“Uh let's see, two men walked into a bar and said ow” He grinned at Chanyeol, but didn’t really expect a reaction. As expected, when he didn’t get one he said “I bought a pair of sneakers from a drug dealer. I don’t know what he laced them with but, I’ve been tripping all day!” 

He finally saw something that amazed him and wanting proof he took out his phone and said “What is taken before you can get it? A picture!” He exclaimed and with that snapped a picture of Chanyeol’s smiling face. Chanyeol looked shocked and then stands up demanding to see the picture. Jongdae, being stubborn, doesn’t let him see it. As the two of them wrestled for Jongdae’s phone, he hears something he honestly hadn’t been expecting. Chenyeol began to laugh. Not very hard, honestly more like a giggle but it was there. Jongdae stilled and stared at him and Chanyeol took that opportunity to seize his phone and look at the picture. Before he could really get a good look at it, Jongdae snatched it away again and stuffed the phone in his pocket. 

“Nope! That is for me and me alone!” 

He sent the picture to Chanyeol later that evening. It had been the first time Jongdae had seen him smile or heard him laugh. 

As they grew even closer, they bonded more. Chanyeol began to reveal how not okay he really was despite seeming to be getting better. Chanyeol told Jongdae he cried himself to sleep and had frequent nightmares. Jongdae waited out Chanyeol’s sleepless nights with him and did his general best to help heal the hole Baekhyun had left in Chanyeol’s heart and life. 

On the anniversary of Baekhyun’s death, Jongdae knew he couldn’t let Chanyeol be by himself. He finds Chanyeol at Baekhyun’s grave, about to breakdown alone. He jogs over and puts a hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“Hey Chanyeol, I figured you would be here.” He says in a soft voice.  

Chanyeol leans against Jongdae. He turns Chanyeol around and wraps his arms around him. 

“Let it out, I know you miss him.” 

With that minor encouragement, Chanyeol sobs into his shoulder, clutching Jongdae’s shirt tightly as his body shakes. Jongdae rubs his back in circular patterns. He wishes he could take away his friend’s pain. He wishes he could bring Baekhyun back so Chanyeol could live without such sorrow. But most of all, he prays that Chanyeol won’t follow Baekhyun. 

The two of them finish High School as best friends. Everyday that Jongdae sees Chanyeol, he thanks whatever angels watching them that his friend has enough strength to make it through another day. 

The two also apply and get accepted into the same college. Jongdae doesn’t want to let Chanyeol out of his sight, and although he never told Chanyeol that, he suspects he knows and is thankful that Jongdae isn’t leaving him. 

They spend the entire summer making trouble in the town. They make noise in the public library, disrupt people in the local cafes. They spend days and days and days at the nearby amusement park, riding the rides over and over again. They run outside during thunderstorms and get completely soaked. They swim at the local pool, splashing anyone foolish enough to come close to them. They find time for part time jobs, and then waste their money on ice cream and candy.  They spend time with their families together. The two pack for college together. They catch a plane to their new home together and sleep on each other’s shoulders on the flight and steal the other’s food at the fast food restaurant they go to after their short flight. They help each other move into their respective dorm rooms then explore the campus together.  

When Chanyeol meets his roommate a week or so later, he isn’t really sure what he expected but it certainly wasn’t someone half a head shorter than him whole looks like they could flick him into next week. He is nervous about the guy but after they introduce themselves to each other, he thinks that the guy isn’t that bad after all. They lay down some ground rules and seem to be relatively compatible. That is until only a couple days later when he overhears his roommate’s conversation with someone over the phone while it was on speaker. 

“Dude, that's so terrible” His roommate says. 

“Yeah I know, like they were holding hand. Gross.”

“Those gays think they can just strut around doing whatever they want!” 

“Yeah, like, do they not have shame?” 

“We should give them a piece of our mind!” 

“F***ing-” Chanyeol leaves before he can hear more. He is terrified. His roommate is exactly like the people in his high school. The phone call he himself gets minutes later worries him even more. 

“Chanyeol guess what!” Jongdae says excitedly.

“Uh what?” 

“I said guess” He whines but continues on, “I guess I’ll tell you anyway.” Chanyeol hears him taking a deep breath. “My roommate has these two friends and apparently they’ve all been friends for a couple years.” 

“And?” Chanyeol says, sensing more.

“And his friends just started dating! Isn’t that the cutest thing ever! They were walking around holding hands today!” 

Chanyeol feels himself break into sweat. “Yeah that's cute and all but tell them to be careful. There are people here who seem to be like some people at our high school.” 

“Oh? Like who?”

“Like my roommate.” 

There is silence for a minute. Then Jongdae says, “Get out of that room now. I’ll even convince my roommate to let you stay here until you can get your room changed. Please.” 

Chanyeol eventually gives in to his friend, knowing how concerned he is for him. 

As it turns out, Chanyeol’s roommate is the one who ends up getting moved out of his room with plenty of unkind words and threats. He is told he will be getting a new roommate soon because a student is having problems with a creepy roommate. He is excited to meet this new roommate, hopeful that he will be better than the last one. 

When the new roommate walks in, these are the first things Chanyeol takes note of; he is much shorter than himself, at least a full head, he has cotton candy pink hair, multiple piercings on each ear, and doesn’t seem to want to look up. The boy refuses to look up at him. Chanyeol figures he must be really shy, plus he did not hear good things about this boy’s previous roommate. 

That night, Chanyeol has a nightmare about losing Baekhyun all over again. He hadn’t had one of those dreams in a while. He wakes up crying and fumbles for his phone to call Jongdae. Only when he hears his roommate stirring does he remember that he is sharing a room with someone. He tries to calm down by himself when he hears a groggy voice telling him to take deep breaths. He does so until his heart rate have evened out and he is no longer shaking from memories of the nightmare. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” A quiet voice comes from the other bed. It may be because he just had a nightmare, or he is tired, or that this guy has something about him that makes Chanyeol feel comfortable but he finds himself spilling the events of the past two years to the guy. He tells the poor guy about his best friend turned lover killing himself and then apologizes for the fact that he is such a mess and still hasn’t gotten over it. His roommate’s reply makes no sense to him.

“Sorry, I should be the one apologizing.” He says. Only then does Chanyeol notice that his roommate has started to cry. “My god, I’m so sorry.” His roommate says, voice breaking. Even in the dim lighting, Chanyeol can make out his small frame shaking with silent tears. 

“Please forgive me Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol sits upright so fast that he gets dizzy. 

“I shouldn’t have done that to you. I just, I couldn’t live there anymore, I’m so so sorry.” 

Chanyeol can’t believe what he is hearing. He pinches himself to make sure he isn’t dreaming, then proceeds to slap himself to double check. 

“It was all a lie. I ran away. I couldn’t go through with it after all I promised you I would never hurt myself again.” 

“B-Baek….. Is it really you?” 

His roommate slowly gets up and turns on the lights, facing Chanyeol. He lifts his head and a very familiar face stares at him. 

“I-I’m dreaming, aren’t I?” 

“No, no you’re not.” Baekhyun says with tears streaming down his face. He digs out something from the drawer next to his bed. He hands it to Chanyeol and of course he recognizes it. He had only seen it once but remembers it clear as day. The knife that had been missing the day he found his lover’s suicide note. He lunges forward and tightly wraps his arms around Baekhyun, afraid to let go or even loosen his grip. He sobs into a frame that was thinner than he remembers but he honestly doesn’t care because his Baekhyun is back and he won’t ever let him go again. 

The following morning, the two wake up on Chanyeol’s bed, on top of all the covers with Chanyeol’s arms still firmly wrapped around Baekhyun. Neither would have it any other way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow what a wild ride right?  
> Thank you all so much for sticking with this, I hope you don't hate me too much  
> and I hope this ending came as a pleasant surprise  
> Yes this is the end of their story BUT!  
> I am planning on writing some spin-off stories!  
> Again thank you!
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> "kyungsoo" can you comment if you read this? :)

**Author's Note:**

> Ha well, I'm sure you all hate me now...  
> Please keep your eyes out for the next chapter! Another character gets introduced!  
> I promise the next chapter will be better, bear with me.
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> "kyungsoo" please comment if you read this! :)


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